Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The simple things in life are so good

This morning I peeked at my lavender bushes and realised it was DEFINITELY time for my first crop. I spent about an hour carefully cutting and trimming and I ended up with quite a few bundles and lots left over for some lavender water, so that's what the kids and I have been working on this rainy afternoon.


I often forget how good the simple things feel.. how important they are. I grew up on a farm, not a working farm, a family farm I guess you could say. My dad grew Christmas trees and we had 2 barns and almost 5 acres of fun to explore, grow on, learn on. We had chickens, cows, goats, dogs, a barn cat.. we had owls and bats and bees and everything a kid needs to learn and explore and appreciate what life and nature really are about. My mom always had the most gorgeous gardens.. so beautiful people would stop in front of our house to tell her. Lavender was my favorite thing she grew.. I would sit in my tree fort and make "potions" with her roses and lavender, and the sweet old lady down the street would always so sweetly thank me and try them on. What a brave woman!

I love the simplicity and magic of going out and cutting leaves and buds off a plant I grew myself, bringing it in and carefully sorting and bundling, hanging it up to dry and boiling and distilling the rest of the leaves and buds to make a refreshing lavender spray. I love knowing that in a few short days I will have dried lavender buds to make soap and laundry satchels and drawer inserts and I can smell this wonderful spring smell for months to come. I love the joy my kids get on their face that this is a project they can help with and they love the finished product.



I need to buy some fine mist sprayers, I'm really looking forward to keeping a few bottles of the lavender water in the fridge so I can spray myself down when it gets really hot this summer. Some of it I will use in my lavender soap, some I might put up for sale.. if I am not too greedy about it, lol. I think this summer I am going to fill my yard with lavender. I have roses that are gorgeous but I don't get as much joy from growing much else... I tried a myriad of things but I am just not used to growing in the climate here and I don't get satisfaction out of it the way I do with Lavender. This year, I am going to go for the gold and grow only what makes me so happy. Next springs first harvest will be big, that's for sure!

No comments:

Post a Comment